Low-Carb and missing bread?

I’m so excited! I have some great low-carb bread news. But I’m skipping ahead. There is a question I get asked more than most. I’ll be chatting away with someone and they are suddenly seeing clearly the impact what they eat has on their diabetes for the first time.

They get that carbs are the biggest issue – then comes the pause – I can almost hear them thinking “wait – does that mean I can’t have bread?”

Then it’s time for panic to set in “I don’t know what to eat now, what will I eat for lunch?”. There’s something about bread, maybe it’s the convenience, maybe it’s the stuff that goes on the top, but it can be a dealbreaker for some people.

I can take away their pasta and potatoes, but don’t go near their bread! Sometimes they’ll try and bargain with me, telling me they’ll switch from white to brown or have less.

You know me, I have to be honest and I tell them the truth about how much sugar is hiding in there. I have to admit to feeling a little guilty – I do remember how much I used to love bread until it turned on me (if you want more motivation then this is for you)

Burgers and Lunchboxes

I have spent ages testing and perfecting bread recipes, and I have got a great sandwich bread recipe after loads of tweaking. It does all the stuff you’d expect bread to do, yummy toasted and great for lunches, but you do need some slightly unusual ingredients and you can’t make it into rolls and it does contain nuts (a lot of schools operate a no nut policy).

I’ve got used to bunless burgers over the years, but a proper guilt free burger that doesn’t crumble and holds all the fillings in – now you’re talking!

You’ll see from the pictures just what I’m talking about – I used this recipe to create a Pulled Pork & Sriracha Guacamole cheeseburger (I will post the recipe). My family loved to so much I had to make them 2 nights in a row!

Funny story about the pictures, my 11 year old loves photography and wanted to take the pictures and help me. He also loves the date stamp, I now know that you can’t get that bloomin’ date stamp off. Lesson learned!

This bread is quick and easy to make. You can freeze and pop it frozen into the toaster and you’re ready to go. They are great as mini pizza bases and perfect for the lunch box and of course absolutely amazing with burgers.

Warning – make more than you think you’ll need, they disappear fast!

The key to the recipe is separating the eggs cleanly. If you drop a bit of shell in the egg whites, use a spoon to get it out. Don’t use your finger, we have natural oils on our fingers and you don’t want any of that in the whites to stop them fluffing up.

I used a blender to mix the cream cheese and egg yolks – make sure there are no lumps. I used a Vitamix blender – yes – they are expensive but worth every penny. I can’t tell you the difference it’s made to my cooking. I can make almond flour, mayonnaise that doesn’t fail, even soups that cook in it. OK I admit I am obsessed by it, I’ve had it for years now and it still gets used everyday.

Make sure the bowl of your beater for the egg whites is squeaky clean – you want to beat as much air as you can in. The cream of tartar is a stabiliser and will help the egg whites beat up stiffly and hold the air.

Then you just fold the 2 mixtures together, it really is that easy. It’s just 3 ingredients, that’s it. I put mine on parchment paper, you can use a silicon sheet too. They don’t take long in the oven, keep an eye on them, don’t want dark clouds after all 🙂

They don’t spread out on the tray so make them the size you want.
Think of this bread as a perfect ‘holder’, it has a really mild taste and a fluffy texture and is so easy to make too.

Here’s the recipe, enjoy 🙂

Recipe

Ingredients

3 eggs, separated

3 Tablespoons cream cheese (or 1.5 ozs or 43gms)

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Steps

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F degrees. Line baking trays with parchments paper or silicon liners.

Separate the eggs very carefully, making sure no yolk gets in the whites.

In a small bowl, mix together the egg yolks, the 3 tablespoons of cream cheese until smooth.

In the other bowl add ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat the whites on high speed until they are fluffy and form stiff peaks.

Very carefully fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites until thoroughly mixed, being careful not to break down the fluffiness of the egg whites too much.

With a large spoon, scoop the mixture into 10 even rounds on the sheets (roughly ¾ inch thick and 4 to 5 inches across).

Bake on the middle rack for approximately 30 minutes. Cooking times may vary, so be sure to watch closely and pull them when the tops are golden brown.

Remove from the pans and cool on a rack or cutting board.

When they are fresh out of the oven, they are crumbly and similar to cooked meringue. Once they completely cool, (after being stored overnight in a plastic baggie or Tupperware container) they will change their consistency, to a softer bread texture that is nice and chewy. If you aren’t after the bread consistency, then eat them as they are, nice and crisp.